


Looking After the Boss

by morphaileffect



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-22
Updated: 2011-09-22
Packaged: 2017-10-23 22:53:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/255978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morphaileffect/pseuds/morphaileffect
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>written for lj user mithas, on her birthday: 14 april 2008</p>
    </blockquote>





	Looking After the Boss

**Author's Note:**

> written for lj user mithas, on her birthday: 14 april 2008

It was 5 pm in Naples. Gokudera Hayato had just returned to his hotel room after personally double-checking the agenda for the night. He had been told repeatedly that he didn't  _have_  to, but he had insisted on inspecting everything - the limo service that was going to drive them all out to the mansion where the meeting was to take place, the caterers who were going to run the whole affair (background checks were done on each and every member of the kitchen staff just to be sure none of them had a knack for poison cooking), the new hotel they were going to stay in (had to make sure there were children's playrooms that could keep the stupid cow entertained, a gym for the lawn-head, insurance for accidental damage caused to the hotel property - and staff - by wayward  _tonfa_ , among other things), the list of families that were going to attend and their representatives, et cetera.

He had to keep an eye on all these things. He was, after all, the right-hand man.

And this was an important date. Today, Sawada Tsunayoshi - Gokudera's friend and superior for six entire years - was going to be formally inducted as the Tenth head of the Vongola Famiglia.

Gokudera had been repeatedly assured that no one would dare harm Tsuna, not while a sacred truce was in effect. The Vongola boss was the  _Capo Di Tutti Capi_ , the one whose very existence was an all-important secret between families. Anyone who was stupid enough to try and off the Vongola's anointed would be putting his (or her)  _famiglia_  in danger of total annihilation.

Still, Gokudera possessed the kind of mind that did not really have a "sleep" switch. He would blame himself if anything bad happened. He could take no chances.

...Oh, but he was tired. The twenty-year-old pulled off his coat, loosened another button on his shirt, and threw himself onto the only bed in the room. He had been running around all day while the baseball freak was out playing with street urchins, the Boss was being tutored on etiquette and decorum (while incidentally nursing a bad cold), Hibari Kyoya was sleeping, and everyone else was generally kicking back and having fun.

Sometimes it felt lonely, having to shoulder all this. Maybe a little help wouldn't be bad. Or moral support, at the very least.

And right on cue, his cell phone rang.

He knew who it was. He groaned loudly and shut his eyes. If he let it ring long enough, maybe the person on the other side would get the hint and stop calling.

But after a few blessed seconds of peace, the phone started ringing again.

Gokudera pushed himself off the bed noisily. The first thing he said into the receiver was "WHAT? WHAT IS IT NOW?"

 _"...I'll have you know everyone in the house is asleep, so stop shouting loud enough to wake them."_

Gokudera checked his watch and did a quick calculation. What time was it in Tokyo?

"Damn it, woman, why are you even  _up_? It's past midnight, isn't it?"

 _"That's right!"_  was the cheerful, not-sleepy-at-all reply.  _"Just calling to check up on how Tsuna-san's doing."_

"You did that just two hours ago!"

 _"So I can't do it again now? I'm spending my own money on these overseas calls, you know."_

Gokudera sighed and rubbed the back of his neck irritably. He had to admit, calling every two hours was something he would probably do if he were in Miura Haru's position.

"You know what, why don't you just call  _him_? Why do you keep calling this number?"

 _"He's busy."_

"AND I'M NOT??"

 _"Not as busy as the Boss!"_  Not for the first time, Gokudera wondered what kind of "mafia" was running through her head.  _"And he's sick! And I'm too far away from him! And you look after him anyway, so..."_

Well, she was starting to sound nicer. Despite not knowing a thing about how to comfort creatures of the feminine persuasion, Gokudera allowed a gentler tone to creep into his voice.

"That's it exactly," he said to her. "I'm looking after him. I'm here, so he's fine, we're all fine. So why don't you just go off to bed."

 _"Or what?"_

 _...the hell?_  "Or I'll fly all the way back to Japan just to slap you unconscious!"

 _"I dare you."_

"Don't test my temper, woman!" With "gentler" out the window, "high-strung" was back in business. "Just fuck off and sleep already, I don't have time for this."

He was prepared for an angry  _"Fine! I'm fucking off now! You better pay me back for these call cards!"_  and the conversation suddenly ending - this was how their exchanges usually went. But just then there was a long silence. Something in it kept Gokudera hanging on and waiting for what she was going to say next.

 _"Gokudera-kun,"_  she said, as if this was just the start of the call,  _"how are you?"_

She could be quite sweet when she wasn't yelling at him. Her normal speaking voice over the phone was soothing.

"...Fine." Gokudera fought to sound grumpy for just a bit longer. He had his dignity. "And you?"

 _"Good. It's just really quiet here, with all of you boys gone."_

To be quite honest... of all the annoying romantic interests the Boss had somehow managed to collect on his road to becoming the Tenth, Gokudera had grown somewhat fond of this one. He'd seen how dedicated she was to the family, how in spite of her tendency to leak liquid out of the corners of her eyes in a most unmanly fashion, she managed to pick herself up and act surprisingly tough in times of distress.

Most of all, he knew how devoted she was to the Boss. How she would give up even her life or her own happiness for him. How she stuck by him unwavering for  _six whole years._  That, if anything, gained her his respect.

And somewhere down the line - to his great surprise - his curiosity and attention.

"It's not exactly a picnic out here, either..." He looked out the window. "Italy is a 100% foreign place for the Tenth. I just finished making sure everything's going to go smoothly for him tonight."

 _"Really? You did that? All by yourself?"_

A corner of Gokudera's lip twitched. "Well, it's no big deal. I was born in this country, you know."

 _"Still, it's going to be a big night tonight, isn't it? You're probably exhausted. I'm sorry for always troubling you about Tsuna-san."_

In just an hour or so, night would start falling over Naples. Gokudera had planned on taking a nap before the momentous dinner, but he decided there were better ways to spend the time. He lay back down on the bed and settled into a comfortable position, one where his arm didn't have to hurt from holding the phone up to his ear.

"You're just worried about him. You're not troubling me."

***

 _"Listen, Gokudera-kun. When you come back, I have something to tell you."_

He couldn't imagine  _why_  at first, so he had to ask: Was it really  _him_  she wanted to talk to, not the Boss?

 _"I said_  you,  _you brainless excuse for a_  capo bastone."

 _HOW DID YOU EVEN LEARN THAT TERM,_  he wondered aloud (very loud) at her, just before he started cursing her out in a long stream of Italian, to which her only response was a neutral and emotionless dropping of the call.

It wasn't exactly the best way to end a fairly civil conversation with Miura Haru. Gokudera could remember worse, of course, it seemed sometimes that there was really no way for him and Haru to talk to each other without the exchange somehow degenerating into a shouting match.

But the way she said those words meant something had changed.

And now he was back in Japan, straight from one of the most important nights of his life, facing the girl who unsettled him more with her silences than with her speech.

And there were tears in her eyes as she said "I'm not going to be in Tsuna-san's way anymore."

She was smiling. She dropped her gaze and looked like she wanted to run away, like she'd rehearsed this line a hundred times, but was still doomed to make a mess of it.

Gokudera knew it was part of his job as the right-hand man to spare his Boss some dirty work. This might include dealing with hysterical women.

...He just supposed that all this time, he had been secretly praying he wouldn't have to deal with  _this_  hysterical woman.

"What the hell are you talking about," he demanded. "When were you in his way?"

She looked up at him like this was the nicest thing he had ever said. Which it probably was.

She casually wiped her eyes dry with the heel of one hand. "Oh please, Gokudera-kun," she said with a chuckle, "you and I both know he likes Kyoko-chan more than me. He's liked her for years, and she's starting to like him back, too. It wasn't as if I had a chance, was it?"

Well... Gokudera  _was_  aware of the Tenth's mad crush on Sasagawa Ryohei's cute but slightly airheaded little sister (what did the Tenth _see_  in her? Seriously??) but all this time, he never discounted the smarter and more down-to-earth Miura Haru as a serious contender for the Tenth's affections.

In fact, he admitted to himself, he might even have been quietly rooting for her.

"Tsuna-san has been through a lot, and I haven't helped him at all. In fact, I was even a burden on him. He was sick and I couldn't even look after him - all I could do was call and call. I was just wasting everyone's time. I really hate that I wasted everyone's time..."

She couldn't keep the flood back anymore. Tears were streaming down her face, and all her efforts to sob them back into place did nothing.

Gokudera looked at this frail girl, this short-haired, slender, broken-hearted  _girl_  whom he had known for ages, and for the first time, he saw how lonely she was. How it tortured her every day of her life to love someone whom she  _knew_  could never love her back.

He thought at first it was a kind of pain he would identify with. He had hoped it was that simple. But he looked at her standing there all alone and shaking, and he knew it truly wasn't.

"So... you think that if you stay away, things will somehow be better for the Tenth?"

She met his gaze again, her eyes wide, and it was his turn to look away.

"Have you ever thought that," he continued, "you probably love him so much, you can't see what's good for him?"

"Gokudera-kun?" There was genuine confusion and - shock? in her voice. "What are you -"

"Look." He told himself firmly that there was no easy way to talk to a crying girl, so the best solution was probably to be honest and direct. That worked in most situations, right? "If the Tenth... ever told me I was the most important person to him... if he ever said he would never need anyone but me, I would be the happiest man alive."

Haru felt herself turning pale. Was she hearing this right? Oh God, this has got to be one of the worst possible times to turn gay on a woman...

"But he'll never say that," Gokudera said heatedly. "Because it isn't true.  _Everyone_  is the most important person to him. Everyone who's helped him get this far - he'll protect them all, even at the cost of his life. That's just the kind of man the Tenth is."

She started to say something, but his long pianist's fingers wrapped around her exposed upper arms.

"You know that," he said softly, his face up close to hers. "He needs us."

 _He needs_  you, Haru almost screamed at him. But she caught herself just in time, and when she choked back the words she was able to mutter "It hurts, Gokudera-kun."

He parsed that to mean  _Let go of my arms, asshole_  and started to release her. But when his hands slid off her bare skin, she caught them and trapped them in her own.

She couldn't speak for a while. She held his hands and held him like that at a distance, while he stood torn between wanting to pull the hell away and wanting to pull the hell closer. She could tell he had never been in this position in his life, but she didn't care. His hands were warm and he  _listened_  and she didn't care.

"I'm so stupid," she said in a whisper, almost to herself. "I don't know what to do."

"Don't leave him."

Before he could help it, he was detaching one of his hands from her grip and reaching for her. He wasn't even sure where the hand was going - if it was the hair, or the shoulder, or the upper arm again. He just knew that the moment called for this.

He gently tipped her chin up so she was looking straight into his eyes.

"Stay. With me. For him."


End file.
